Although a big part of the season has already passed in the pacific northwest, and fall is arriving in the southern hemisphere, most of the angling in the northern hemisphere is still young for the 2002 season.

So I ask... what are your main goals for the year to come? We can revisit them at the end of the season to see how we did.

Crusty

04-21-2002, 10:35 PM

I'd like to spend at least 100 days fishing this year.

Retired and working at a totally flexible part time job while I wait for my wife to pull the plug on her work, you would think that I could get it done. The problem is that it will have to be mostly local since I don't really like to leave Dianne, my partner for 43 years, for any extended period of time and she only has five weeks vacation. Damn, it's terrible to still be in love at my age. :):)

Crusty

MarkDoogue

04-21-2002, 10:56 PM

1. First and foremost, I've never landed a keeper on a fly rod. That would be my ultimate goal this season.

2. I want to be proficient enough with knots that I can tie all the most useful ones in the dark.

3. Buy a vise and tie some darn flies.

4. Learn the lay of the land on Monomoy.

5. Kayak, kayak, kayak.

6. A Nor' East "slam" within the May - Sept/Oct. season.

7. Clean up my casting stroke.

8. Perfect my backpack/chestpack/hydration system design.

9. Guide my wife to at least one striper so she can feel for herself what drives me to wake up @ 3 A.M. and head for Chatham.

10. Pay back the members of this board for their generosity.

johnp

04-22-2002, 09:09 AM

Lets see,

1) get back my casting form. Progressively been getting worse the last 2 years.

2) more time in the boat the goal is 1 day per weekend.

3) use some of the piles of material laying around to axctually tie some flies at least 2 days before I decide I need them.

4) hit the lottery and fish 7 days per week.

JohnP

Nick

04-22-2002, 09:17 AM

I'm working on keeping my hooks sharp sharp sharp. I also hope to spend more time in the Yak on both Capes. I hear there are some pretty nice fish on Cape Anne, if you can get to them.;)

Quentin

04-22-2002, 10:15 AM

1. Improve my casting ability so that I can cast without embarassing myself too badly and without being a danger to myself and others.

2. Catch a striper on the fly rod.

3. Hook a fish that takes me into my backing.

4. Catch a 30+" striper on the fly rod.

5. Catch a bonito.

6. Catch a bonito/albie/spanish mack on the fly rod.

7. Learn how to paddle and fish from a kayak. (Maybe even buy one!)

8. Learn how to read the surf to figure out the shoreline structure.

I could easily expand upon number 1 but you probably get the idea! Numbers 2, 5 and 6 are part of my perpetual goal to add species to my "all time" life list and to my new, rapidly growing "flyrod" life list.

Dble Haul

04-22-2002, 10:25 AM

1. This one is a holdover from last year....to catch a tunoid on a fly. I really see this one happening this year. ;)

2. To get to know some of the ponds and backwaters in my neck of the woods better. This will happen with my recent acquisition of a jon boat.

4. To fish with more people in this forum. I really see this happening this year too. :p

Smcdermott

04-22-2002, 08:12 PM

Being new I figure keep things simple:

1. Fish at least once a week

2. Learn to "read the water"

3. work on my knots and rigging

4. Spend as much time learning to cast left handed as I do right handed. Haven't been very good about this one.

Penguin

04-22-2002, 08:27 PM

...HAVE MORE FUN THAN LAST YEAR!...
...Catch more big fish than last year...
...Use more floating lines and BIG flatwings than last year (to catch more BIG fish)...(honest, I promise...Capt Todd!)
...Practice "industrial strength" hospitality.
...Promote/practice SAFE kayaking.

...And not stop fishing Chatham on Sunday mornings because of impending traffic on the Mid-Cape Hwy...

FredA

04-22-2002, 08:52 PM

Fish before Aug 15th (I've been having one of those recurring dreams where I finally get to fish in mid August - and there are no fish).

Plans/goals as of the end of last season:
Feb/March scout around Buzzards bay for some early season/summer midweek evening spots. By the boards -didn't do

Continue to try to develop some level of competency at this striper fishing. Specifically:

Sight fishing (seeing fish without hallucinating)

Reading the water (without hallucinating)

Working some different flies (contrarian approach)

Do a little night fishing

And use the kayak....

Adrian

04-22-2002, 08:52 PM

Night fish for stripers

Paddle the magic zone where South Beach, North and South Monomoy Islands converge

Catch a Bluefin Tuna on Fly

Jimmy

04-22-2002, 09:01 PM

I need to KISS. Keep it simple stupid.

Enjoy the time I have on the water. I won't worry about how many or how often. Just to enjoy what I have, when I have it.

To get more involved with this forum. I could live to be 100 years old, and I would still not be able to repay this forum for every thing it has given me.

I'll take everythhing else as it comes.

striblue

04-22-2002, 09:20 PM

Fish Monomoy flats more and pull more than one all-nighter.

doogue

04-22-2002, 10:12 PM

Ahhh...just the other day Jeff B and I were talking about kicking off this seasonal thread.

- Catch a 36" + striper on the fly

- Fish/Yak Pleasant Bay in May and Early June

- Go fishing with my wife and see her catch a 25" + striper on a fly that she tied herself

- Go oversand this spring (Jeff - I will make the OldDoogue sandwiches if you take me!)

- Fish the Squantum, MA area since a family member just built a house there and since I can easily steal a few hours of striper fishing in this area while visiting the family (not all trips require 6 hours of driving for me!). Dave Skok was telling me how he loves fishing this area.

- Fish the Plum Island/Ipswich River/Essex River area since I am moving to Manchester, NH and PI is less than an hour away. I already have some yak accessible sandbars scoped out.

- Fish the NH coast more than once this year. MattB (Matt - where are you man?) has this placed dialed in when the Fall run pushes through in September.

- Bonito/False Albacore on the fly. Hooked one last year and I lost it...and I still think about it on a monthly basis.

- Fish the Merrimack here in NH for salmon and for smallmouth. Scoped out the Merrimack yesterday. I can see why Juro said that the spey rod makes fishing this river easier.

- Float tube my secret largemouth pond on a regular basis. This tiny local pond has huge bass in it.

- Hit Monomoy at least twice this summer. I would like to go more but I just bought an old house and I will be very, very busy fixing it up all summer.

- Go to the land where "Every day is Saturday" and enjoy the company of Sir Penguin

- Fish with my Dad and my bro at least 5 times this season

That is all...

Moonlight

04-22-2002, 10:13 PM

Fish for Coho along the kelp south of Sitka using my "trawler" for a base camp.
After not going to the Skeena for the last 4 years to make at least one two week trip up there in the Fall for large sea run rainbows.
Avoid fishing with "plastic rods" until winter run time around Thanksgiving.
Make at least one backpacking trip on the OP for wild trout.

And most importantly watch the Mariners win the Seventh game of the "World Series" on the big screen at the "Log Cabin Pub".

The great part of this list is its all do-able, my apolgys to eastern baseball club fanatics but we are on a roll out here in the land of tall trees.

NrthFrk16

04-22-2002, 10:27 PM

Moonlight-
If the coho fishing in Sitka this year is anything like it was last summer, you will have a great time.

I was up there the middle of last August and the number of coho was fantastic as was the average size...plus there was a large number of kings still around, very atypical for that time of year.

Alas, I was not allowed to fish the flyrod. I was decking for a charter boat up there for a couple weeks in return for a few days of fishing. The 990 DS2, LP 3.5 loaded with a Rio 350 grain Striper line and box full of flies never left the closest as everytime each morning I went to grab the rod, reel and flies, I was yelled at by the Captain (btw-one of the best in Sitka) and told not to let the bugrod get near the boat (eventhough before I came up, he told me to go ahead and bring it along...even if he did consider it an effort in futilty.

One side note...the coho in mid-August were much much deaper then they were in late July. The thousands of coho crashing bait on the surface in late July headed for deeper water in August. We were not fishing south of Sitka though as we focused on our efforts on Georgiana, Pt. Amelia and Shelikof Bay.

juro

04-22-2002, 10:36 PM

Fish Monomoy LESS and Brewster Flats MORE - in fact as hard as I used to years ago. I will focus on the outer shoals with my new inflatable yaktoy out on the edges where I did over 20 keepers in four half days on freinds' boats last year (Bigcat, Gregg/Roop, Tom, etc.). This is a lot better than I did on shore out there, but with a yak the sight fishing would be even better (no boat shadow to spook 'em). Hour for hour the sight fishing was even better than Monomoy and hardly anyone to compete with. Anyone who is interested is welcome to join me.

Build my first flyrod (half done!)

Do the NH bronzebacks for the first time in almost 20 years!

Ipswich end of Plum Island Sound in the yaktoy; Essex estuary in the yaktoy; Annisquam in the yaktoy.

Spey cast more frequently between visits to the PNW.

Teach as many people how to cast as possible to improve my teaching skills, even thinking about offering free lunch lessons at work to log some serious hours doing it.

Make Father's Day the most memorable day for the little brothers in a long, long time. Give a little more back to society each year through flyfishing experiences if possible.

Get my wife to try flyfishing.

Have a better day on the water with my son than our best day last year (every year).

...

NrthFrk16

04-22-2002, 11:07 PM

1)Explore a couple rivers that I have always wanted to learn but have fished very little, if at all.

2)Coho on the fly on the westside of Whidbey Is.

3)Fish those damn indicators less and less. ;)

4)Become consistent with the Spey rod so that my time fishing with the two-handed is actually spent fishing and not spent breaking apart every part of every cast so that I can see what I did wrong and what did right (which I am doing now).

5)Steelhead on the surface fly...I can see it now. A misty middle-July day, my 490 SP, a non-descript dry fly (last night when when I could not sleep, I pictured the fly in my head and as the time nears, I will sit down at the vise and try to duplicate that image), and a beautiful Deer Creek native steelhead. :)

It will probally not happen that way...most likely it will be the river that Juro and Doublespey led me to last September or even worse, it will occur on the Hwy. side at Reiter and the fish will not rise to a pretty little dry fly presented with the 4-weight but more likely the fish will rise to those funky but effective foam skaters (think a surface version of Larry Tullis' Wiggle Bug) to the 9140. Oh well, one can dream. :)

...and biggest goal of all:
Skeena or Bust

juro

04-22-2002, 11:38 PM

Ryan - Go with a sedge muddler! Just like that wet fly I left with you with the gold butt, but with a natural muddler head. Skates like foam. Fished it two mornings for 2-3 hours, same fly, Hwy 2 side. Hooked three fish, landed two, rolled another. All on top.

I like the Deer Creek vision better ;)

FishHawk

04-23-2002, 06:21 AM

Try and attend more claves this year.
Get to learn and use the yak this year.
Try and catch an albie
Fish Long Island .
FishHawk

John Desjardins

04-23-2002, 09:13 AM

Just 3 goals this year.
1. Fish more often.
2. Help my son catch a fish on a fly.
3. Make it to a rip trip.

Chris

04-23-2002, 09:30 AM

1. Build the 6'6" 3 wt. rod for which I have the components.

2. Restore the Rangely Guide boat I have on sawhorses out back so we'll have a stealth boat to explore the 17 miles of new Kennebec we got a couple of years ago. (started)

Ryan, How sad that your skipper wouldn't let you fish with your fly gear. Those ocean feeding coho are the best when you can get them shallow and they're on the bite. Having spent over twenty years living and fishing in Sitka I am never short on fond memories of the good times.
When you can find a big school of fish holding a goodly sized ball of needle fish up against the Kelp and there no boats anywhere on the horizon life altering forces take over. I remember times when double headers lasted until you finally just waited until the second fish was let go and the school of cohos following the one on the line swam out of sight.
The most coho I have ever been able to hook on one cast was three not sure how many times I did that but I don't remember ever hooking more than three on one cast. How could this be? Its pretty simple when the Cohos are feeding heavy and the water temperature is pushing 60F they are hot and first runs of 100 yards are common if your fly falls out of the fish and you have to reel in 100 yards of backing and fly line you are no way going to get it back without hooking another coho.
Had some free time mid summer a few years back and had several of my Steelhead fishing buddies come to Sitka and we made week long trips using my "trawler" for a base camp and fishing out of 16 18 foot Lunds it was a magical time and even though at times we were in large frenzied schools of King Salmon we only managed to hook 10 landing only three. Two of the Kings were full sized 33- 35 pounders while the third was a 12# feeder taken right in front of Sheldon Jackson by a fellow fishing for Pinks while we were on a grocery and beer pickup.
There are many more charter operators working out of Sitka now and this has made it more important to wander away from town and camp out where you may be able to find some fish by your lonesome.
I guess this is on the same topic of goals for the year maybe "Great Expectations" would be a better thread head.
Good luck to all on making your goals some of them sound like great fun.

Roop

04-23-2002, 04:52 PM

1. Watch my wife catch her first striper on a fly
2. Watch my wife catch her first 36" striper on a fly
3. Sight cast 70%, blind cast 30%
4. Improve my abilities to help others fly cast/ fish
5. Relax when I'm going fly fishing and try not to be like the young bull who said to the old bull... ;)

NrthFrk16

04-23-2002, 11:14 PM

Moonlight-
That sounds like an absolute BLAST!! The waters around Sitka are absolutely beautiful and there seems to be endless waters to explore... :)

Seeing that many flyrod capable fish and not being able to use sure was tough...by the end of the 2 weeks, those pinks milling off of Stargavhen (sp?) Cr. were sure tempting (as I brought along the #5 just in case I got desperate enough).

old man

04-24-2002, 12:14 PM

#1. Try to get out more. And quit reading of all the good fishing on the East coast.
#2. Try to improve on my fly fishing for the no.1.Steelhead.
#3 Waiting for the Streams in my area to open(June 1st).
#4.Try to improve my still water tactics.
#5. Just try to have more fun doing all of the above.

Jim S :D :D :hehe:

Stone

05-13-2002, 05:10 PM

Meet up with some folks on this board to go trout fishin',

Catch a brown, rainbow, and laker.

Catch bigger brookies.

Catch more NATIVE brookies.

Expand my repertoire of 'proven' patterns and share them with the forum.